Day 02: From Killarney to Black Valley

Date	Aug 15, 2022 (Monday)
Today's Distance:	15 miles / 24 km
From Killarney to Black Valley	From Killarney to Black Valley
Total Ireland	15 miles.
Total This Camino:	15 miles.
Total All Caminos:	1635 miles
Lodging:	Black Valley Hostel @ 27 €
Total Lodging:	$ 100
Buses / Trains:	28 €
Total Buses / Trains:	$ 30
Food:	$ 20
Total Food:	$ 20

Meaningful Moment

Hands down it has to be watching Carlos and Adriana interact throughout the day. I feel I'm a blessed man, having them in my life.

Random Thought of the Day

Sometimes I wonder why I'm out here doing these hikes. Had flashes of that today. Despite beautiful country, beautiful sights, the joy of having Carlos and Adriana with me, the adventures and the challenges and the occasional defeats, sometimes I feel like I'm missing something.

On the Road / Notable memories

First of all as is usual, the predicted - according to the guides - 12 mile hike, actually turned into 15 miler by the time we got to the Black Valley hostel. And we pretty much started at the trailhead. Sometimes that happens.

For most of the afternoon we had occasional thunder over the mountains, but didn't really see any lightning or rain. Then with about a mile to go, a lightning bolt came down in the mountains in front of us. All I could say was that I quickened my pace to get to our final stop for the night.

Muckross House was gorgeous from the outside and the grounds were beautiful, but just wishing we had time to stop in for an hour. If we had visited, we would have really been late to the hostel.

After 16 days on the Camino Madrid with only one day of a challenging climb, to jump right into a 1000 ft climb on the first day of this hike, was interesting to say the least. The hard part is that tomorrow we actually have another 1,000 ft climb followed by a descent and then another 1,000 ft climb followed by another descent. Looking at alternatives to break that day up.

Came up with an alternative. Bridia Valley is the midpoint between the two mountains we have to do tomorrow. The hostel in Bridia Valley was full, so I found a place in Glencar which will pick us up in Bridia Valley and then return us the following morning. This means we can convert that 12 mi, two mountain hike into two separate hikes. Both Carlos and Adriana agree with the plan.

Reduces the distance we will cover in the overall hike, but distance was never really the motivating factor anyway.

	Three of us at the Killarney inn at the start of day one

	The Kerry way starts by walking around this very beautiful lake

	Carlito
	Muckross House. My only regret is that we didn't have time to spend an hour here.


	Torc Falls. The climb here and the climb afterwards is steep and long.

	Entering the mountains of the Iveragh peninsula
	Up in the mountains, we came across this beautiful resting spot for a short picnic and a chance to cool off the feet.
	Galwway's bridge

	That's a thunderstorm up ahead

	Raining at the Black Valley Hostel


	Domestic
	Wild